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Monday, September 21, 2009

FREMM Du Jour

September 21, 2009: Algeria has ordered six FREMM class frigates from Italy, paying about a billion dollars for each 6,000 ton ship. The FREMM is a joint France-Italy project, and the Algerians recently can celled an order for four FREMMs from France. Apparently Italy offered a better deal, and earlier delivery (the first one arriving in two years.) The Italians seem to be providing Algeria with one of the FREMMs being built for Italy. Three FREMMs are under construction. France plans to buy eleven, and Italy ten. Morocco has ordered one (from France) and Greece six (which will be built in Greece with French help).

The FREMMs are 142 meters (440 feet) long. Top speed is 50 kilometers an hour and range is 11,000 kilometers. The ships are highly automated, with a crew of only 108 sailors. The ships are armed with Mu-90 torpedoes, Otomat Mk2A anti-ship missiles and Aster anti-aircraft missiles. There is one 76mm gun, two 25mm autocannon and two EH101 helicopters. The Italian FREMMs are equipped with towed sonar, so that they can specialize in anti-submarine operations.

Archeologists uncover ancient royal burial chamber

German archeologists said they had discovered a burial chamber in an ancient royal palace in Syria containing hundreds of bones and treasure thought to be 3,500 years old.

The grave in the former city of Qatna's royal palace contains the remains of at least 30 people and is regarded as particularly spectacular because it had not been previously disturbed by grave robbers, archeologist Peter Pfaelzner told reporters on Monday.

"It's possible that the remains belong to members of the royal family or household," the University of Tuebingen archaeologist said.

"We still do not know exactly what role the new burial chambers played related to what we have already found," he added in comments to the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "There is enough work here for generations of archaeologists."

The burial chamber was found in the Bronze Age city of Qatna, one of the most important kingdoms in ancient Syria. At its height, Qatna was home to some 20,000 and a major trading crossroads from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean and from Anatolia to Egypt. Qatna's enemies burned down the city in 1340 B.C.

Alongside the bones, archeologists found ceramic pots, as well as containers made from alabaster and granite, originally from Egypt. Gold jewels and the stone sculpture of a monkey were also found.

One of three teams of archeologists working some 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Damascus in what was once Qatna, Pfaelzner's work is based in city's palace and the western portion of the ancient city. A Syrian team is digging to the east of the palace and a group of Italians are excavating another section of the palace.

Artifacts found in earlier excavations will be put on display by the Wuerttemberg State Museum beginning on Oct. 17.

Syria Says Israel Burying Nuclear Waste

Syria accused Israel of burying nuclear waste in tunnels in the Golan Heights, Syrian government officials said.

The Egyptian government-affiliated newspaper Al-Ahram said the officials made the accusations in a recent report dubbed "the suffering of Syrian citizens in the Golan," submitted to the United Nations human rights commission.

The newspaper noted that similar accusations were made by Syrian government officials in 2003, when they said special Israeli army units were digging tunnels in Mount Hermon to dump nuclear waste from Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona.

In the recent report,Syrian sources said Israel has dug a tunnel in Mount Hermon to hide dozens of nuclear warheads and has booby-trapped the Golan Heights with bombs, tactical nuclear mines and combustible radioactive devices,the newspaper said.

It said Israel has attempted to downplay the accusations, saying it is digging anti-tank ditches in the Golan Heights.

The Golan Heights was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Days War. Syria has insisted a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights is a key part to any peace deal.

How Mars Turned Red: Surprising New Theory

Clara Moskowitz
Staff Writer
SPACE.com

Mars was not always red, according to a new theory for how the planet took on its characteristic ruddy hue.

Until recently, Mars' color was thought to be a product of liquid water, which scientists think flowed over the planet's surface billions of years ago, rusting rocks. But after the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the planet in 2004, they found evidence of certain minerals that would have been destroyed by water, suggesting that the red dust on Mars never came into contact with flowing water.

"That was a surprise to everybody," said Jonathan Merrison of the Aarhus Mars Simulation Laboratory in Denmark.

Now new research has found a possible mechanism to explain Mars' rusty color without liquid water. In fact, the study implies that the red tones on the planet are a relatively recent development. A simple grinding down of rocks from erosion could produce a red mineral that stains the dust on Mars, the new thinking goes.

In the lab

To test the idea, Merrison and colleagues sealed samples of quartz sand in glass flasks and used a machine to tumble them over and over. They found that the gentle process, which approximates the mild wind flowing over the Martian surface, is enough to cause erosion, reducing about 10 percent of the sand grains to fine dust particles over seven months.

The scientists then added powdered magnetite, an iron oxide present on Mars, to the flasks.

As the researchers continued to tumble the samples, they observed the sand getting redder and redder.

"We think we have a process that explains how the dust became red without liquid water, which doesn't seem to fit in with the data," Merrison told SPACE.com.

As the sand grains turned over in the flasks and hit each other, they fractured, breaking apart some chemical bonds at the newly-exposed surfaces. When these surfaces came into contact with the magnetite, an oxygen atom could be transferred from quartz to magnetite, forming a new mineral, hematite.

Hematite is an iron oxide that is deep red in color. It only takes a little hematite, Merrison said, to stain all the dust a reddish hue.

"When we finished we could see red stuff on the side of the bottle," he said.

Same on Mars?

Though they can't yet prove that this is what happened on Mars, it seems like a plausible explanation, and doesn't require water for the reddening process.

In fact, since the process can occur relatively quickly, it could be that the thin red layer of dust on Mars is somewhat new.

"I think it means that Mars wasn't always red," Merrison said. "Before this work, I think most people in the field kind of thought the Martian surface was billions of years old and had always been red. This work seems to imply that it could be quite recent – millions of years instead of billions of years."

Merrison presented the results last week at the European Planetary Science Congress in Germany.

Somalia fighting kills 23 in border town

Mon Sep 21, 2009

Heavy Fighting between Al Shabaab rebels and government soldiers has killed 23 people in a border town in Western Somalia, disrupting communication lines.

A Press TV correspondent cited elders and witness as saying the conflict in Yeet, on the Ethiopian border, and the Rab-Dhhure district also left 20 injured.

The identity of the victims was not immediately clear, as both sides claimed victory, with Al Shabaab, which is waging a war against the new transitional government in Mogadishu, claiming to have captured Yeet.

The rebels have also ordered the shut down of telecommunication lines with the Press TV correspondent reporting that the heaviest fighting is still continuing in the outskirt of Yeet.

Other reports said at least 12 Al Shabaab rebels have also been killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, the beleaguered capital was the scene of more fighting, which has intensified since an inland US operation angered the rebels, who have vowed more attacks. The US, which links al Shabaab to al Qaeda, has claimed that the air strike killed an alleged operative working for the terror organization.

On Thursday, a twin suicide car bomb attacks inside an African Union base, near the capital's airport killed at least 21 people, including 17 AU peacekeepers.

It was the deadliest attack targeting the AU presence since March 2007, as the country struggles to form a functioning government after 21 years of lawlessness.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/106754.html.

Iran to display 'sophisticated' air defense system

As Iran prepares to celebrate a national military remembrance week, the army plans to put on display the latest domestically-manufactured equipment and a state-of-the-art air defense missile system.

The military parade of Iran's armed forces will be held on Tuesday, the first day of 'Sacred Defense Week.'

The equipment, to be displayed in the parade, include various fighter jets, helicopters, unmanned planes, surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles, armored vehicles, surface warships, air defense systems and electronic and telecommunication equipment.

According to Fars News Agency, the air defense system to be displayed in the parade is Iran's most sophisticated missile system. The report did not name or provide details of the system.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to attend the ceremony which will mark the first day of 'Sacred Defense Week' -- an annual commemoration of the 1980-1988 war imposed by Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hossein.

China compares military might to West's

The commander of China's army says Beijing possesses sophisticated arsenals comparable to the West's weapons systems.

"This is an extraordinary achievement that speaks to the level of our military's modernization and the huge change in our country's technological strength," Liang Guanglie, the country' defense minister, was quoted by the ministry's website as saying.

On the Monday interview, the top Chinese military official said many of the weapons systems match or were close to matching the capabilities of their counterparts in the West.

He noted that the J-10 fighter jet, latest-generation tanks, navy destroyers and cruise and intercontinental ballistic missiles are among the biggest military achievements in the country.

The 2.3 million-member strong People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing military, moves for complete modernization by 2020, he added.

Liang's comments come ahead of China's biggest military parade in a decade, which is expected to show off an army with brand new capabilities.

The military display will parade through Beijing on October 1 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.

Hamas condemns upcoming trilateral meeting

Hamas democratically-elected Premier Ismail Haniya has condemned a planned meeting between the US President Obama and Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials.

Haniya made the remarks during Eid al-Fitr prayer's sermon in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

The US President Barack Obama, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority's acting chief Mahmoud Abbas will hold talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

The Hamas top official said the meeting would be invalid and would impose no obligation on Palestinians.

Haniya believes the position of the Obama administration is not different from that of the previous US administrations.

"From Gaza, from a place of strength, we say we will not relinquish our rights," Haaretz quoted Haniya as saying.

The meeting is part of US efforts to revive the so-called Middle East peace talks, which have been stalled due to Tel Aviv's insistence to expand the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

This latest effort comes shortly after the US Special Envoy George Mitchell failed to convince the Israeli officials to halt the expansion of the settlement activity during a previous visit to the region.

AP: UN climate chief says China poised to lead

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. climate chief says China is poised to join the European Union in claiming "front-runner" status among nations battling climate change.

Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press that China is leaping ahead of the United States with domestic plans for more energy efficiency, renewable sources of power, cuts in vehicle pollution and closures of dirty plants.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will announce new plans to fight global warming at a U.N. summit on climate change on Tuesday.

De Boer said he also was encouraged by Japan's new goal of a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The EU has promised to cut its emissions by 20 percent by 2020, but will cut up to 30 percent if other rich countries follow suit.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he hopes to break the "deadlock" in global climate talks with evidence that 10 million jobs could be created by 2020, if developing nations agree to big cuts in greenhouse gases.

Blair, heading up a climate initiative, released a report that also shows a global climate agreement could increase the world's GDP by 0.8 percent by 2020, as compared with the projected gross domestic product with no climate action.

He was visiting New York ahead of a U.N. climate summit drawing 100 world leaders on Tuesday and a flurry of supporting events in New York City this week.

The events are intended to build support for crafting a new climate deal in Copenhagen, Denmark in December to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, requiring mandatory cuts in atmospheric warming gases, that expires at the end of 2012.

Blair's report, one of a series he is promoting, is based on computer modeling by Cambridge University economists. He called the upcoming Copenhagen negotiations "the moment when we move from a campaign to a policy program" that clears the hurdles of exactly how the world's main economies will cut emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other industrial warming gases.

"I think it is essential that we get an agreement at Copenhagen," Blair said Sunday during a meeting with a small group of reporters at a Manhattan hotel. "I think it is possible, and the purpose of the report is to show that in economic terms, certainly in the medium and long-term, it's hugely to our economic benefit to get a global agreement."

In the shorter term, not so much. Blair acknowledged the costs of investment in new forms of energy that emit fewer warming gases — wind, solar panels, nuclear power, electric vehicles, so-called "smart grid" plans using more renewable forms of energy — are daunting, particularly on the heels of a global financial crisis.

"It's politically very tough for people, because short-term, obviously, people have got to take measures that are difficult," he said. "In the medium and long-term, there are real benefits from doing this."

Much could depend on the U.S. Senate, where the prospects of legislation to follow up on a House plan and deal with U.S. greenhouse gases that account for about a fifth of the world's emissions is considered a steep uphill fight. China, the other main emitter, accounts for another fifth, and is expected to announce major climate plans this week.

The Obama administration has announced a target of returning to 1990 levels of greenhouse emissions by 2020, while China is seeking to use 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Blair said climate change was one key area where his ideas diverged from those of former U.S. President George W. Bush, whose administration claimed for years that the Kyoto accord would have cost the U.S. economy 5 million jobs if Bush had not rejected it.

"I can't say I ever investigated that particular claim in detail," said Blair, who was Bush's closest ally on the Iraq war — a stance that ultimately contributed to Blair's decline in popularity at home and his stepping down as both Labor Party leader and prime minister.

"But all I can tell you from our perspective in the U.K. — and if you look at the rest of Europe — we have not been losing jobs as a result of taking action on climate change. If anything, we've been gaining jobs."

Afghan prisons sanctuary for militants - U.S. commander

Afghan prisons have become a sanctuary and recruiting ground for insurgents, with many now firmly under Taliban control, the top U.S. and NATO commander in the country said in a confidential assessment. Skip related content

Army General Stanley McChrystal, issued a bleak assessment of the war in Afghanistan to the Pentagon last month, a 66-page unclassified version of which was obtained by the Washington Post and published on its website on Monday.

McChrystal's assessment of the eight-year-old conflict in Afghanistan paints a grim picture of the progress of the foreign military mission as it faces a rising Taliban insurgency and increased unpopularity among Afghans.

More than 2,500 insurgents who form part of the 14,500 prison population in Afghanistan are using detention facilities as a sanctuary where they radicalize non-insurgents and from where they plan deadly attacks, McChrystal said.

"Taliban/Al Qaeda leaders patiently coordinate and plan, unconcerned with interference from prison personnel or the military," McChrystal says.

HELD WITHOUT CHARGE

McChrystal also criticized U.S. detention centres in the country, singling out the notorious Bagram prison at a U.S. air base north of Kabul, where prisoners have fewer rights than those held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The United States is holding about 600 prisoners at Bagram, many of them without charge.

"... the Afghan people see U.S. detention operations as secretive and lacking in due process. As a result, hundreds are held without charge or without a defined way ahead," McChrystal said.

This scenario, he continues, serves to radicalize such inmates "far beyond their pre-capture orientation."

McChrystal says the U.S. forces needed to work towards a long-term goal of "getting the United States out of the detention business."

"The desired end state must be the eventual turnover of all detention centres in Afghanistan ... to the Afghan government."

Kashmir police use tear gas to break Eid protests

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Riot police in Kashmir used tear gas Monday to disperse hundreds of anti-India protesters on Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Riot police in the summer capital Srinagar fired volleys of tear gas shells at Muslim protesters chanting "We want freedom" and "Allah is great", an AFP correspondent saw.

The demonstrators tried to march to the residence of hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, who is under house arrest.

Several thousand Muslims, including women and children, gathered to offer Eid prayers inside a ground near the "martyrs' graveyard" in Srinagar where many of those killed in the 20-year-old insurgency against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region are buried.

The region's main moderate separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, used the festivities to urge New Delhi to resolve the long-standing dispute over Kashmiri sovereignty.

Farooq accused New Delhi of being "stubborn" and warned that peace in the sub-continent could only be achieved by "resolving the core issue of Kashmir".

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. The dispute has triggered two wars between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals.

Separatist groups in Indian-controlled Kashmir are divided between those who favor accession to Pakistan and those demanding Kashmiri independence.

Indian troops shot dead two militants overnight in northern Kupwara district, bordering Pakistan-ruled Kashmir.

In southern Kulgam district, suspected militants shot dead a 24-year-old woman and wounded her 16-year-old sister, police said.

Bloodshed in the region has declined sharply since India and Pakistan embarked on a peace process in 2004.

The process was suspended after militant attacks last November on India's financial capital Mumbai, which killed 166 people.

Taliban will not recognize any Afghan govt.

The Taliban say that they will not recognize any government that takes power in Afghanistan, adding that it would fall after the withdrawal of the foreign forces.

It makes no difference who wins the troubled presidential election, Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP in the southern city of Kandahar.

"We want neither Hamid Karzai nor Abdullah Abdullah." Ahmadi said, referring to the two main rivals in the poll.

The final uncertified count for the hotly-contested election indicated a Karzai victory, with the president gaining over 54.6 percent of the vote and his rival, Abdullah, winning less than 27.8 percent.

The election has been overshadowed by allegations of widespread fraud threatening to undermine the final outcome.

The Taliban has long conditioned talks on a withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

"In no circumstances are we ready to negotiate," said Ahmadi, calling on "the invaders who defile Afghan land" to leave.

"Our resistance makes the international forces very frightened," he added.

"The government will fall with the departure of international forces. A real defeat awaits the invaders."

The eight-year old conflict has claimed the lives of many Afghan civilians. According to the UN, more than 2,000 Afghan civilians were killed in 2008, whereas NATO maintains that 200 civilians were killed by foreign troops last year.

Israel warplanes bomb Gaza on Eid day

Israeli fighter jets have bombarded three tunnels near the southern Gaza Strip border with Egypt on Islamic Holiday of Eid ul-Fitr.

Israeli military claims the overnight attack on Sunday targeted tunnels that were used for importing arms into the Gaza Strip, DPA reported.

No one has been reported killed as a result of the airstike.

Earlier Sunday, Israeli shells killed two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia near the border with Israel, a Palestinian official said.

The Israeli and Egyptian-imposed siege of the Gaza Strip has left the Palestinian people in the coastal sliver with no options but to use tunnels to get a small portion of food and fuel they need.

The blockade has created harsh living conditions for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Afghan police say more troops not the answer

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – Police officials from some of Afghanistan's most violent regions questioned the need for more U.S. troops, saying Monday it would increase the perception they are an occupying power and that the money was better spent on local forces.

The police officials were responding to a confidential report in which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, warned the war was getting worse and could be lost without more troops. Details of McChrystal's assessment was first reported late Sunday by The Washington Post.

President Barack Obama earlier this year approved sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of U.S. forces there to 68,000 by the end of 2009. Increasing that number risks alienating Afghans, police officials said.

"It is very hard for local people to accept any foreigners who come to our country and say they are fighting for our freedom," said Gen. Azizudin Wardak, the police chief in Paktia province. "To give the idea that they are not invaders, that they are not occupiers, is very difficult."

Mohammad Pashtun, the chief of criminal investigation unit of southern Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland, said that the money would be better off going to Afghan forces.

"Increasing international troops is not useful," he said. "For the expense of one American soldier, we can pay for 15 Afghan soldiers or police."

Gen. Abdul Jalal Jalal, a board member of the national police academy, called for increased funding for training centers to boost the skills of Afghan troops whom he complained don't get the credit they deserve for protecting the country.

"Increasing troops in Afghanistan is not effective. This has been our experience over the past years," said Jalal, who used to be the police chief for eastern Kunar province. "From the experience I have from Kunar province, our Army and police were very effective in all operations that we launched."

All sides are calling for more training for Afghan troops, but it may be difficult to root out the corruption and incompetence in the force. Residents said they are relieved to see international troops with them on joint patrols because they associate Afghan troops with thieves and American troops often complain their Afghan counterparts are not battle ready.

About 4,000 of the additional U.S. troops that started arriving this summer are military trainers.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi did not question the need for more troops but insisted they would should be sent to Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan.

"The focus should be on those points and areas where the insurgency is infiltrating Afghanistan," Azimi said, a reference to Pakistan border region where Taliban commanders take refuge and attacks are planned. "They should focus outside the Afghan border, target the insurgents' resources and sanctuaries there."

While Afghans have their doubts about local forces, they also are not convinced international forces have made things any safer.

According to a July survey by the U.S.-funded International Republican Institute, 52 percent of Afghans believe the country was less stable that it was a year ago — up from 43 percent in May, when the new troops had only just begun to arrive. The survey, which interviewed 2,400 Afghan adults, had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Ahmadinejad proud of Holocaust denial

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday he was proud his denial of the Holocaust had enraged the West, as the controversial leader geared up for a trip to the United Nations to stress a message of "peace and friendship."

Ahmadinejad's latest comment about the killing of millions of Jews during World War II comes as Iran is locked in a bitter dispute with the U.S. and other Western nations over its nuclear program. Even as that fight continues, his remarks were sure to earn the Iranian president an even more frigid reception when he heads to New York on Tuesday to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

"The anger of the world's professional manslayers is (a source of) pride for us," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. He was responding to a question about criticism from the European Union following a speech on Friday in which he questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event." The manslayers reference appeared to be directed primarily at Israel and the U.S.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly raised questions about the Holocaust. He has said it has been used as a pretext for Israel's formation, and that Israel and Jewish groups are actively muzzling any attempt to link shame over the Nazi atrocities with the what many in the Muslim Middle East believe is the West's bias for the Jewish state at their expense.

The comments have done little to bolster sympathy for Iran's conservative government, which the U.S. and others believe is looking to develop enrich uranium with an eye on nuclear weapons production. Iranian officials deny the charge, saying the program is for purely peaceful purposes.

The Iranian president is slated to address the U.N. on Wednesday, said IRNA.

"The most important message of this year's visit by president to New York is peace and friendship for all nations, fighting suppression and interaction with all nations in the framework of justice and mutual respect," Mohammad Jafar Mohammadzadeh, a spokesman for Ahmadinejad's office told IRNA.

Ahmadinejad's last trips to the U.N. have been marked by sharp protests. In 2007, before a planned speech at New York's Columbia University, he sat through a scathing criticism by the elite university's president.

Mohammadzadeh said Ahmadinejad was planning to meet extensively with the media while in the U.S., and that the "Zionist lobby," despite its efforts, will be unable to "stop the publication of the justice-seeking message of Iranians by their president."

Ahmadinejad is sure to face a drubbing over the nuclear issue and questions about whether Iran will negotiate or face the threat of even deeper sanctions.

The U.S. administration has invited Iran to start a dialogue on its nuclear program and gave a vague September deadline for Tehran to take up the offer. The U.S. and five other world powers accepted an offer from Iran earlier this month to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive" talks on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on Oct. 1 for talks on the nuclear issue.

Media Entities should pass Resolution with responsibility

Afghan Resistance Statement
Media Entities should pass Resolution with responsibility
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Ramadan 29, 1430 A.H, September 20, 2009

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

A Journalists’ union in Kabul has decided to boycott publishing Taliban news for three day as a sign of protest against the kidnapping of Sultan Munadi and his shadowy killing. We do not want to discuss the poor coverage being given by the reporters to news and statements of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan but want here to take up the murky situation that led to the kidnapping and killing of the murdered journalist.

The realities and facts surrounding his murder do not vouchsafe them the right to pass such resolution. According to media reports, Sultan Munadi along with his friend Stephen Farrell were lost without trace in areas between Char Dara and Ali Abad districts. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan have not accepted responsibility for their kidnapping.

Following this, British commandos raided a house in the area and killed Sultan Munadi while saving his British friend Stephen Farrel. The media union will reasonably not have doubts about Munadis having been killed by the British soldiers. Munadis family members and all the people present in the area say that they have evidences on hand that he was killed by the British soldiers. There are reports by BBC and New York Times and other credible media outlets, exposing such story.

Ironically, the journalist union of Munadi colleagues instead of taking up the issue with the real murderer of Munadi or with the British government have opted to exact revenge on Taliban.

We believe Munadi was killed by the Britain's in order to tip reporters and media workers against Mujahideen and by doing so, they achieved their target.

It is a matter of pity to see a wake caste like journalists is falling prey to such open conspiracy. The journalists who are eyes of the people, should live up to what they are expected by acting more sagacious and astute.

News boycott against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not prove to be an effective step to harm IE because the previous conduct of many journalists and media outlets with the Islamic Emirate was more or less was bordering on boycott. We believe such emotional and symbolic resolution, instead of solving the problems, only show that such entities of journalists are not neutral in their attitude.

It could be concluded that these unions of journalists give rights of expressions only to the ruling colonialism. The media workers of the Islamic Emirate who have taken upon themselves to unveil facts, have frequently been detained, prosecuted and martyred by the colonialist powers that-be.

They have raided local FM stations and have closed down internet websites but these so-called journalist unions have not raised their finger. However, they blame the Islamic Emirate for the incident happened to New York Times reporter and radio Afghanistan reporters whereas both these entities are official organizations of propaganda of USA and the ruling stooge regime. They are trying to place the responsibility of his killing on Taliban. The journalists union should ponder over the ground realities surrounding his murder instead of resorting to spontaneous and headlong resolutions.

To end, we want to say that all journalistic organizations and entities should act responsibly in their decisions and at the same time, we express our deep sorrow and grief over the murder of Munadi and pray to Allah, the Almighty to save our country from the claws of the invaders.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Netanyahu to defend settlements at Obama summit

By Alastair Macdonald

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will defend expanding Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank when he meets U.S. President Barack Obama and the Palestinian leader, his spokesman said on Monday.

"You have never heard the prime minister say he would freeze settlement building. The opposite is true," Nir Hefetz told Israel's Army Radio when asked about Tuesday's three-way summit during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where differences over settlement building have limited expectations of a result.

"There are some politicians ... who see halting building or ceding national territory or harming the settlements in Judea and Samaria as an asset, something that can help Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot be counted among those people."

Using Israel's term for the West Bank, he added: "He sees the settlements in Judea and Samaria as a Zionist enterprise and the settlers in Judea and Samaria as his -- our -- brothers."

Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and in Arab East Jerusalem, captured in a 1967 war, alongside three million Palestinians. The World Court calls the settlements illegal and Palestinians say the enclaves could deny them a viable state.

Israeli officials have said Netanyahu last week offered Obama's envoy George Mitchell a 9-month freeze in building in the West Bank but that Washington was seeking a one-year freeze in order to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace negotiations that were suspended in December.

Netanyahu himself, facing strong opposition from within his own coalition to any concessions on settlements, has avoided making such a public commitment to halting construction.

Tuesday's encounter will be Netanyahu's first meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since he became prime minister in March. Officials on all sides have played down the chance of it leading to a rapid re-launch of peace negotiations.

Speaking privately, Palestinian and Israeli officials have said the meeting may be little more than a photo opportunity for Obama, who has little so far to show for a pledge to work for peace in the Middle East's six-decade-old conflict.

Leading Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea, writing in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, called the meeting "a joke at the expense of the American president, who has chosen to get involved in Middle East politics and has suffered for it".

NO PRECONDITIONS

Hefetz said: "We never expressed our wish that the meeting should only be a courtesy call ... The prime minister has said many times that to advance peace he is ready to go anywhere in the world at any time, as long as there are no preconditions.

"A meeting has indeed been set without preconditions, which undoubtedly is intended to advance peace. This is the aim of the American president and the prime minister will happily attend.

"On one thing the prime minister is not prepared to compromise, and on this he has been consistent throughout -- that is the matter of Israel's security."

On Sunday, a spokesman for Abbas said the meeting would not signal a full re-launch of peace talks, which remain blocked by profound disagreement over settlements and the scope of talks.

U.S. officials called the meeting a mark of Obama's personal commitment to Middle East peace but played down the prospect of quick developments: "These three leaders are going to sit down in the same room and continue to narrow the gaps," one said.

However, neither side has shown any shift away from the deadlock that was evident on Friday when Obama's special envoy Mitchell completed a week shuttling around the region.

As well as an open-ended halt to settlement that includes not just the West Bank but East Jerusalem, Palestinians want Israel to commit from the start of negotiations to reaching permanent resolutions of all the core issues of the conflict -- including borders, Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem's status.

Netanyahu, who highlights the fact that Abbas's authority is limited since Islamist Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, has suggested talks focus on interim improvements in security and prosperity.

Israel signed up to a U.S.-backed peace plan in 2003, the "road map". It called for a halt to building in the Jewish settlements that Palestinians say are eating away at the viability of a future state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

While Netanyahu has been under the heaviest U.S. pressure on Israel in years, he has insisted settlers should be allowed to continue building as their families grow and rules out any discussion on sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians.

Ahmadinejad defiant against pro-Israel lobby ahead of UN visit

Tehran - The pro-Israel lobby in the United States would not be able to distort the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to New York, a presidential spokesman said Monday. Ahmadinejad planned to travel to the US Tuesday to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly and give a speech Wednesday.

In the run-up to the visit, the Iranian president caused controversy by once again questioning the massacre of Jews during World War II and calling the Holocaust a "fairy tale" used as pretext to establish the Israeli state.

His remarks led to renewed condemnation from Israel and the West.

Presidential spokesman Mohammad-Jafar Mohammadzadeh told official news agency IRNA that the pro-Israel lobby would therefore try to distort Ahmadinejad's New York visit.

"The Zionist lobby would do anything to prevent our president from disclosing the Iranian standpoint and distort the message of global justice, but the Zionists will once again fail," the spokesman said.

"As the president himself said, we are proud that professional killers are our opponents," Mohammadzadeh added.

Ahmadinejad said Friday that the Holocaust was used as "a pretext for crimes against humanity" and blamed the West of having turned the issue into a taboo.

"Why do they not allow scholars to open this black box and evaluate the whole truth about this claim?" Ahmadinejad said.

Iran does not recognize Israel and considers its government as the main root of all problems in the Middle East.

The presidential spokesman said Ahmadinejad will deliver "the message of peace and friendship" at the UN General Assembly and meet several heads of states.

Iranians help free 21,000 poor prisoners on Eid al-Fitr

Iranian benevolent benefactors have helped to release 21,000 prisoners who were imprisoned for financial cases on the eve of Eid al-Fitr.

Imam Khomeini's Relief Foundation launched an aid program to cover eligible prisoners, who are in poor financial health during the holy month of Ramadan.

The committee identifies those who have been imprisoned due to monetary infringements such as unpaid debts or blood money.

Poor families that can not afford enough money to secure bail for their incarcerated relatives will be provided with legal and financial aid from Iran's largest charity organization.

The committee initiated the move to bail prisoners out in an attempt to help such families regain financial stability.

Imam Khomeini's Relief Foundation was founded in March 1979 as a charity organization to provide support for poor families.

'World should restrain Israel anti-peace efforts'

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian Authority's acting chief Mahmoud Abbas have urged the world to prevent Israel from derailing Middle East 'peace efforts'.

Abdullah and Abbas held talks at the Red Sea port of Aqaba on Saturday to review the outcome of the latest round of shuttle diplomacy which was wound up on Friday by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, apparently without success.

"The two leaders believe that the world community must now shoulder its responsibilities by preventing Israel from derailing current efforts aimed at re-launching serious and effective negotiations that lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," a royal court statement said.

"They also warned that losing the opportunity currently available for achieving peace will jeopardize the entire security and stability of the region," it added.

Abbas and Abdullah pointed out that Israel's continued building of settlements in Jerusalem and other Palestinian territories "represented the main obstacle for achieving progress in peace efforts".

U.S. Ambassador: Pakistan Not Backing U.S. Goals On Taliban

Despite growing U.S. military losses in Afghanistan, Pakistan still refuses to target the extremist groups on its soil that are the biggest threat to the American-led mission there, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan told McClatchy.

Eight years after Washington and Islamabad agreed to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Pakistan has "different priorities" from the U.S., Anne Patterson said in a recent interview. Pakistan is "certainly reluctant to take action" against the leadership of the Afghan insurgency.

As the war in Afghanistan becomes more brutal - and political and popular support for it wanes in the U.S. - Pakistan's refusal to act in support of American goals is undermining the U.S. effort to deny al-Qaeda and other extremist groups a sanctuary in Afghanistan.

The most effective Taliban fighters, the Haqqani network of veteran Afghan jihadist Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin, operate out of the North Waziristan region of Pakistan's tribal territory. Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar is widely thought to be based in the western Pakistani city of Quetta, from which he directs the insurgency through the so-called "Quetta Shura," or leadership council.

Experts on the Afghanistan war think that military progress and political stability won't be possible there unless the government roots out the havens the insurgents have established in western Pakistan. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based research center, concluded in its annual review this week that "Pakistan remained the biggest source of instability for Afghanistan."

Pakistani officials, however, say that their country's priority should be to tackle Islamic militants who threaten Pakistan. They charge that the U.S. is blind to Pakistan's concerns over traditional foe India as it presses Pakistan to redeploy forces from its eastern border with India to the western border with Afghanistan.

The disagreement between Washington and Islamabad was illustrated starkly this week when former President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged in a television interview that he'd diverted American military equipment that was meant to fight the Taliban in western Pakistan for use against India. "One doesn't care who one crosses," Musharraf told Pakistan's Express News.

In testimony Tuesday before Congress, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, said: "The Pakistani military ... consider their principal threat - their existential threat - to be Indian, not these extremists."

The U.S. has lavished praise on the Pakistani army for the offensive it launched in April against Taliban militants in Pakistan. The operation marked the first serious sign of determination to deal with armed extremists, but it hasn't extended to groups in Pakistan that fight exclusively in Afghanistan. Mullen said that Pakistan's recent anti-terrorism actions "had a big impact" although "it hasn't been perfect."

While Pakistan and the U.S. agree on targeting al-Qaeda and, more recently, the Taliban Movement of Pakistan ("Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan"), they strongly disagree over action against Afghan insurgents operating from Pakistani territory.

"Where we differ, of course, is the treatment of the groups who are attacking our troops in Afghanistan. And that comes down to Haqqani and Gul Bahadur and Nazir, to a lesser extent Hekmatyar, and yes, of course, there are differences there," Patterson said, naming some of the most prominent extremist leaders. "We have a very candid dialogue about this with some frequency."

Bahadur, based in North Waziristan, and Maulvi Nazir, based in South Waziristan, are Pakistani Taliban commanders who fight only in Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an old-time Afghan militant commander, is based near the Pakistani border.

"In my view the Pakistanis don't have the capacity to go after some of these groups. Some they do, let me stress, but say Siraj Haqqani holds territory, huge swaths of territory in North Waziristan, where he's been implanted for years," said Patterson.

"My own view is that the Haqqani group is the biggest threat (in Afghanistan). The Quetta Shura, yes, is sort of a command and control. They move in and out of Afghanistan. But the Haqqani group has ... shown the ability to reach all the way to Kabul with these huge attacks, which not only kill loads of people but are also politically destabilizing."

Nevertheless, Patterson said that Pakistan had "taken more action against some of these groups than most people are aware of."

Until 2001, Pakistan openly supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, which in turn hosted al-Qaeda's leadership. Pakistan officially abandoned the Taliban, under enormous American pressure, after the 9-11 attacks. However, many Western military officers think that the Pakistani military, which remains in charge of Afghanistan policy, continues to view Mullah Omar and Haqqani as "assets," an insurance policy it might have to rely on if the U.S. pulls out of Afghanistan and the Taliban return to power. Haqqani has been close to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency since the 1980s.

Pakistan also has grievances against the U.S. Last year, Washington signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal with India, but not with Pakistan. India also has played a significant role in Afghanistan - with an aid program worth more than $1 billion, including road-building and education assistance - which has raised suspicions in Pakistan.

"We consider India as a threat to our security; the Americans don't," said a senior official in the Pakistani administration, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

He added: "We can't go after everyone at the same time - that would destabilize our own country - but we will do it."

Pakistan says that the U.S. has failed to provide it with the right military hardware for the anti-terror fight. Islamabad also thinks that international forces in Afghanistan haven't been effective in sealing their side of the largely unmarked, porous border, so Afghan extremists infiltrate Pakistan and fight the Pakistani army in the tribal area, especially the Bajaur region.

"We have complained and informed them (NATO) that the strength they have on their side of the border (in Afghanistan) is not even a tenth of what we have on our side," said Pakistan's chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, who added that "obviously the threat (in Pakistan) that's more significant will be taken care of first," without specifying what it is.

Underlying Pakistan's concerns in Afghanistan is the grave doubt that top Pakistani military and civilian officials harbor - which Mullen acknowledged in his testimony - about the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan, amid growing public opposition to the war there.

"What happens if America leaves? What would Pakistan's situation be the day after?" said Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst based in Lahore. "If we pick a fight with every group in the tribal area and Afghanistan, after the Americans leave, everybody would pounce on Pakistan."

The risk is of a self-fulfilling prophecy: that Pakistan's inaction, based on its distrust of American motives, helps lead to the very situation the country says it wants to avoid. If the Taliban retake Afghanistan, Mullen said in his testimony, "the internal threat to Pakistan by extremism will only worsen."

Head of group accused in Mumbai assault arrested

By BABAR DOGAR, Associated Press Writer

LAHORE, Pakistan – The leader of a banned Islamist group that India has accused of carrying out attacks on its financial capital late last year was placed under house arrest again on Monday.

Pakistani police prevented Hafiz Muhammad Saeed from leaving his home for Eid-al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Saeed is a founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba — the militant group New Delhi claims masterminded the commando-style assault that killed 166 people in Mumbai last November.

"We have verbal orders from the government to restrict his movement," police official Sohail Sukhera told The Associated Press by phone. "We have asked him not to leave his house."

Sukhera would not specify why Saeed was being confined to his home in the eastern city of Lahore, or say for how long.

India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai assault staged by 10 gunmen, nine of whom were killed. Under tremendous international pressure, Pakistan acknowledged much of the plot originated on its soil.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a press conference Saturday that Saeed was under investigation.

"We arrest the accused only if we have evidence. I assure you, and I assure my Indian counterpart, that if there is evidence against (Saeed) during our investigation ... he will not get out of the clutches of law," Malik said.

At least seven other suspects in the Mumbai attacks have been in closed-door pretrial hearings at a court in a maximum security prison in Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad. So far no charges have been filed against them.

Pakistan arrested Saeed in December after India provided a dossier on him in a rare sharing of intelligence. But in June, a Pakistani court freed Saeed from house arrest saying there was not enough evidence to hold him.

Pakistani police said Friday they planned to arrest Saeed on charges that he illegally held a public gathering and raised funds for Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an alleged charity he now operates. Jamaat-ud-Dawa was banned by Pakistan after the U.N. declared it a front for Lashkar.

Lashkar is widely believed to have enjoyed the support of people in Pakistan's security agencies in the 1980s and '90s because it sent militants to fight Indian rule in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided by the two countries but both claim it in its entirety. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947, two over control of Kashmir.

Officials from Pakistan and India will meet Saturday and Sunday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the Associated Press of Pakistan he will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Nirupama Rao.

"All the issues between the two countries, including terrorism and the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, will be discussed in these meetings," Bashir said, adding he hoped they would help restart the peace process — stalled since the Mumbai attacks — between the nuclear-armed arch rivals.

Police say attack on Pakistani minister foiled

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Police officers foiled a plan to assassinate a regional education minister in northwestern Pakistan when they engaged four militants in a gunbattle Monday that ended with a teenage suicide bomber blowing himself up, police said.

An informant tipped off officers that insurgents had gathered in a government high school in North West Frontier Province after midnight and were planning to kill provincial Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak and attack government installations and security forces, police officer Noor Jamal Khan said.

Police confronted the militants and a firefight ensued. A loud explosion rocked the building and three of the men escaped, including one who was wounded, Khan told The Associated Press from Tatalai district where the incident occurred.

"We have collected the body parts of the young suicide attacker and these will be sent for identification purposes," said Khan.

No other deaths were reported.

Pakistan's northwest, near the border with Afghanistan, continues to see near-daily violence with attacks by Islamist extremists on security forces and civilians.

On Friday, a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden vehicle into a hotel in the town of Kohat, also in North West Frontier Province, killing more than 30 and wounding dozens of others.

The latest violence comes as Pakistani forces continue to clear the Swat Valley and surrounding areas to the southeast of Taliban fighters and their al-Qaida allies.

The military said Sunday that security forces killed eight militants in search operations throughout Swat since Saturday. Twenty-three insurgents also were apprehended and another 22 surrendered. One of the militants killed was a Taliban commander identified as Chamtu Khan, it said in a statement.

The military also announced the death of Sher Muhammad Qasab, a feared Taliban commander known for beheading opponents. He died in custody Sunday from gunshot wounds sustained during a fierce firefight with Pakistani security forces last week. Qasab's three sons were killed in the encounter.

The Pakistan Taliban has been on the run since being cleared from the scenic Swat Valley in July after the military launched a major offensive to retake the region in April.

Army operations in the valley have killed more than 1,800 alleged militants, according to the military. It says 330 Pakistani troops also died during the offensive.

U.S. missile attacks have played a significant role in neutralizing the insurgency. Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in an Aug. 5 CIA missile strike, plunging the group's leadership into disarray. Officials said last week they believed the al-Qaida operations chief for Pakistan and a top Uzbek militant died in missile attacks in the northwest earlier in September.

Report: General calls for more Afghanistan troops

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON – Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a confidential report that without additional forces, the war against insurgents there will end in failure, The Washington Post reported Monday.

McChrystal's grim assessment of the war was published on the Post's Web site, with some portions withheld at the government's request.

"Although considerable effort and sacrifice have resulted in some progress, many indicators suggest the overall effort is deteriorating," McChrystal wrote in his summary.

The report was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates in August and is now under review by President Barack Obama, who is trying to decide whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

While asking for more troops, McChrystal also pointed out "the urgent need for a significant change to our strategy." The U.S. needs to interact better with the Afghan people, McChrystal said, and better organize its efforts with NATO allies.

The Pentagon and the White House are awaiting a separate, more detailed request for additional troops and resources. Media reports Friday and Saturday said McChrystal has finished it but was told to pocket it, partly because of the charged politics surrounding the decision. McChrystal's senior spokesman, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the report is not complete.

"The resource request is being finalized and will be sent forward to the chain of command at some point in the near future," Smith said from Afghanistan.

Obama denied asking McChrystal to sit on the request, but he gave no deadline for making a decision about whether to send more Americans into harm's way.

Obama said in a series of television interviews broadcast Sunday that he will not allow politics to govern his decision. He left little doubt he is re-evaluating whether more forces will do any good.

"The first question is, `Are we doing the right thing?'" Obama said. "Are we pursuing the right strategy?"

The war has taken on a highly partisan edge. Senate Republicans are demanding an influx of forces to turn around a war that soon will enter its ninth year, while members of Obama's own party are trying to put on the brakes.

"No, no, no, no," Obama responded when asked whether he or aides had directed McChrystal to temporarily withhold a request for additional U.S. forces and other resources.

"The only thing I've said to my folks is, 'A, I want an unvarnished assessment, but, B, I don't want to put the resource question before the strategy question,'" Obama said. "Because there is a natural inclination to say, 'If I get more, then I can do more.'"

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress last week he expected McChrystal's request for additional forces and other resources "in the very near future."

Other military officials had said the request would go to McChrystal's boss, Gen. David Petraeus, and up the chain of command in a matter of weeks. The White House discounted that timeline, but has remained vague about how long it would take to receive the report and act on it.

McChrystal found security worse than he expected when he took command this summer to lead what Obama described as a narrowed, intensive campaign to uproot al-Qaida and prevent the terrorist group from again using Afghanistan as a safe haven.

In the interviews taped Friday at the White House, Obama said he's asking these questions of the military: "How does this advance America's national security interests? How does it make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist allies cannot attack the United States homeland, our allies, our troops who are based in Europe?"

"If supporting the Afghan national government and building capacity for their army and securing certain provinces advances that strategy, then we'll move forward," the president continued. "But if it doesn't, then I'm not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan."

Obama has ordered 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, increasing the number of U.S. forces there to a record 68,000, and watched as Marines pushed deep into Taliban-controlled districts ahead of Afghanistan's national elections in August.

The disappointing outcome of the voting — no definitive winner weeks later and mounting allegations that the incumbent President Hamid Karzai rigged the election — is coloring both Obama's view of the conflict and the partisan debate.

Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has told Obama he wants no new troops request at least until the United States makes a bolder effort to expand and train Afghanistan's own armed forces.

On Sunday, Levin addressed the give-and-take over McChrystal's report.

"I think what's going on here is that there is a number of questions which are being asked to Gen. McChrystal about some of the assumptions which have been previously made in the strategy, including that there would be an election which would be a stabilizing influence instead of a destabilizing influence," said Levin, D-Mich.

The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Obama should follow the military's advice. McConnell said Petraeus "did a great job with the surge in Iraq. I think he knows what he's doing. Gen. McChrystal is a part of that. We have a lot of confidence in those two generals. I think the president does as well."

Obama spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week," NBC's "Meet the Press," and CBS' "Face the Nation." Levin and McConnell were on CNN.